Beautiful Red

The future is boring. Technology has solved the world's most pressing problems, leaving people with tedious work and mundane play. Jack is a Security Officer Class 5, which sounds important, but isn't. However, her banal life as a cubicle worker by day and tinkerer by night is interrupted when she discovers that her employer's computer system has been invaded.

Jack enlists the help of her only friends – her co-worker, Gilles and Adrian, an online friend she's never met – to help her track down the source of the invasion. Her investigation leads her to a shadowy group called the Red, where Jack learns that not everyone lives a life of quiet servitude.

Even though she believes that the Red are responsible for a series of gruesome attacks, Jack begins to become attracted to their worldview. In her search for the people responsible for the attacks, she confronts the leaders of the group as well as her own burgeoning sense of self-awareness.

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Meet Jack, a Security Officer Class 5 at Bellis Industries. She checks in to work, where she shares a cubicle with the night guy, and they supervise the state of the corporate system. Their counterpart in another branch spots some problems, but it's all in a day's work.

Jack comes upon another firm's security goons hassling a guy on the street. She buys some military grade electronics from a street vendor, and spends the evening chatting with their tutorial program. Meanwhile, someone is having trouble remembering things.

Jack dodges her annoying co-worker, Tony, then discovers that the problems in the Eastern system are getting worse. She oversteps her bounds, then heads home to spend the evening hacking her microrecorders.

Jack is led to the case of Estella Rowan, a missing prostitute, and she spends a harrowing time trying to track down what happened to the woman. Meanwhile, someone doesn't get very far in correcting the memory problems.

Jack fears that something sinister may have happened to Estella Rowan, and through her online investigations, learns of a group called The Red. Against her better judgment, she packs for an impromptu trip out of town.

Jack assimilates into the culture at The Red's headquarters. She meets people who she hopes will help her answer some of her questions. Meanwhile, someone's memory problems are getting so bad that drastic steps may have to be taken.